AIADMK complains to Arlekar over ‘inaction’ on its petitions on ‘horse trading’

The AIADMK has complained to Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar that no action had been taken as yet on its memorandum regarding the alleged horse-trading being indulged by the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).

On May 30, the party’s agricultural wing secretary and whip in the Assembly ‘Agri’ S.S. Krishnamurthy and Rajya Sabha Member M. Dhanapal presented the memorandum to the Governor. Mr. Krishnamurthy, after submitting another memorandum to Mr. Arlekar on Saturday evening, told reporters that there was no follow up to his party’s memorandum given to Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar. He added that he had urged the Governor to take an immediate action on his party’s submission of the issue. 

I.S. Inbadurai, the party’s MP (Rajya Sabha), who was also present at the time of the meeting with Mr. Arlekar, later told The Hindu that his party had sought an “independent inquiry” into the matter. On the issue, MDMK general secretary Vaiko and Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary P. Shanmugam had also made observations, apart from a complaint lodged by the TVK at the Triplicane police station.

Mr. Inbadurai pointed out that his party had also drawn the attention of the Governor to the row over the reported presence of two private individuals at the meeting of the Cabinet. It “amounted to the breach” of the Official Secrets Act. 

He recalled that one of the reasons for the dismissal of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in January 1991 was the controversy over the confidential matters, on the government’s measures to contain the activity of militants from Sri Lanka, getting leaked. Mr. Inbadurai added that the party had orally conveyed to the Governor about the private individuals purportedly accessing first intelligence reports of the Police.